Join us for a guided walking tour back-in-time a chance to experience history, the paranormal and bizarre. Be drawn back with tales from Yallourn, Brown Coal Mine and the evocatively named Haunted Hills.

Do you ever have trouble winding down after a particularly stressful, emotional or active day? Has someone else’s presence affected you, their mood, covered you in a cloak? The webbing of their presence stays long after you’ve extracted yourself from their presence? Do you have that person that is with you, judging you, criticising you and when you run into them nothing goes right? While I write this I understand that some people aren’t as affected. They either shrug it off, or don’t realise how it affects their own emotional responses. A lack of insight or acceptance.

Some of this is how we respond to the stimuli around us. Yet, there is a lingering palpable presence that living people sometimes leave behind. Sometimes this is a trauma they carry in deep sadness, or anger. So, why would this energy end just because their body ceases functioning?

Famously, rightly or wrongly, paranormal investigators have co-opted physics law “Conservation of Energy”. ‘Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but it can change form’. The scientific community laments this borrowing. Although, reputable paranormal investigators, follow a hypothesis and are willing to debunk – (accept that it’s not a ghost appearance through a series of tests). Revealing edited photos, people faking poltergeist symptoms, environmental factors, and so on.

Residual Haunt

A haunted place that has an uneasy feel about them or a recording played on loop, called a “residual haunt”. There is no active spirit residing there, just a recording of the residual energy from a trauma or memory. This refers to the idea posed earlier that other people’s emotional states can affect your emotional state. The theory named “stone tape”, is where the environment having enough magnetic minerals acts like a film. It keeps record of the event, feelings or sometimes even the persons repetitious routine.

A story about an avid gardener, seen as a regular fixture tending his front garden. After his neighbours hadn’t seen him for a few days they entered his home finding him in the entry hallway having taken his own life. A few months later a neighbour saw him in the garden the only difference was he was transparent. This is a residual haunt.

Another story was of a house that didn’t have a tragic, the owner passed away there. Upon entering the home they would hear footsteps. They’d also feel a presence following the sound around the house, they never saw anyone who wasn’t expected. There were also sounds in the roof. They accept the previous owner doesn’t want to leave.

On many occassions at a new annex in a Melbourne Church a girl in a white dress was seen walking alone the glass window.

Poltergeist

A poltergeist received its name from German roots, ‘polte’ meaning noisy and ‘geist’ meaning. This is the type of ghost that can affect the natural world. This can mean electricity, moving things, shaking things, a sensation of touch. This is the commonly depicted ghost experience because they are disconcerting and downright scary. This type of ghost is able to touch people.

I’ve received some stories about poltergeists.

There is the famous ghostly shove as caught on CCTV as shown below.

Click for source. This is what the film captured at the point the woman says she felt hands and was pushed a by a ghost.

Experiences recounted to me are feeling strangled, things moved such as a Christmas angel on the floor (after being secured at the top of the tree). Other experiences of electrical disturbances, of places in the Latrobe Valley.

At another Melbourne property had examples of poltergeist activity. Working late one night, they entered the bathroom unhindered. Whilst handling the toilet door it was pulled out of hand, this happened more than once. The door swung in and no one was in the cubical, or the bathroom. On the way out they tripped over a bin in the doorway. The bin wasn’t there when they’d entered the room. The least frightening of all the experiences was a constant whispering, that went on for two years in this place.

Messenger

A messenger is a ghost that appears usually for a purpose if the purpose is acknowledging it’s usually not seen again. This seems to solidify a belief that the spirits can travel between the spiritual world and our natural world. Am example told to me by a reader was a Mother who’d died leaving behind her young family. A few months after her death, there was trouble with the will. Her 14 year old daughter would never have known if it wasn’t for an encounter with her mother one night. Appearing at the end of her bed, her mother explained how to fix it. She didn’t see her mother again however was very grateful for the visit.

Thanks, to my readers who shared their experiences and have added this collective of the stories that haunt us. If you want to share your stories with me please email me at hauntedhillstours@gmail.com or in the box below. If you would like to share it in the comments you’re most welcome to.

Thanks to the residents for letting us on their property and thanks to Lynton Gale for the photos.

In January, I ran a competition to decide the ghost whisperers’ costume. Originally, I was trying to go for dresses inspired by the 1910-1930 era which was the start of the Brown Coal Mine and Yallourn. I couldn’t really find any, and none of the choices were from this time period. It’s tough to find dresses from 1910-1930, that isn’t a flapper’s dress – its way to cold to wear that in winter!. I made up a competition and put it out to the people, asking for comments of the communities to pick their favourite.

“This dress is school marmish with blood red flowers – the sense of controlled horror & femme fatale, will suit the haunted hills”

These comments captured my imagination as I appreciate the film noir genre where the femme fatale character emerged. Film noir has a particular look, using shadows to change the everyday into something, shady. It’s the genre of most old school detective movies, as they investigate the shady side and disclosed side of life. Anyhow, how does all that relate to the ghost tour setup delivers this film noir look, while it’s a walking tour not a film. The elements of a film noir are all there as walk commences in the twilight setting the atmosphere, casting shadows on the otherwise beautiful town of Yallourn North. The stories shared throughout the tour, take us back in time and to the things we don’t really talk about as the history. You know, things the like the four skeleton’s found in a stones throw from Yallourn, the unsolved murders and the spirits unable to rest lacking justice. The tour covers the sly grog trade as well, according to an article by ancestory.com on Australia day, we like having criminals in our histories. The tour also covers creatures that were in Yallourn, like the Gippsland Lion. That’s the main elements of the ghost tour. Ghost tours don’t usually have a genre but, I would say most are a combination of film noir, horror, thriller and suspense.

“The controlled horror” I most certainly hope the horror is controlled. There are elements in the stories that may horrify people.

The dress has an aspect of looking like school Marm. Well, that comes with other aspect to ghost tours, history. To explore the spirits past some understanding of their life helps, which will be provided to you on the tour.

I’m trialing a new booking site (as Ecwid, is supposed to be used for selling a products not exactly all I need for collecting bookings, and with ghost tours and as it grows I want more mobility for my customers to book) At the moment it takes you to another site outside of WordPress- Bookeo which is authorised by Tegan Dawson of Haunted Hills Tours.

I hope this will make it easier to complete bookings and giving us all the information we need, and a better way to communicate with my customers, if there are anythings that need to be communicated.

You can select at the top of the page are selectors for Adult ($25.00), Concession/pension/student ($20.00), child (8-15 years) ($20.00) (OBCM/YNAG members relate to the Yallourn North Historical Society and town improvement group).

Fill in all the names of the people attending the tour. (click next)

I require your name, email address and phone number. (Click next)

It sends you through to PayPal to finalise the payment.

You will receive a booking confirmation and a request to join my mailing list.

She is interested in ghost stories and stories that aren’t usually told and celebrated. The people who get forgotten in a barrage of process, and in tumultuous situations.
I want to hear stories about real people, I want to tell stories about real people. We leave a mark on the world, there are things that are still not yet completely explained even if you don’t believe it’s spiritual.

This year she is finishing her third year at uni, and starting Haunted Hills Tours.